


The Story of Chara

by Fluoradine



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Chara Redemption, Character(s) of Color, Flavor Text Narrator Chara, Gen, Genderless Chara, Major Character(s), Narrator Chara, Nonbinary Chara and Frisk, Nonbinary Character, Pre-Canon, Pre-Series, Pre-Undertale Pacifist Route, Prequel, The Ruins (Undertale)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 10:29:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8052817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fluoradine/pseuds/Fluoradine
Summary: Before Chara fell into the Underground, while they lived there, and what happened after they died. Oneshot to celebrate UT's one year anniversary!





	The Story of Chara

**Author's Note:**

> Happy 1 year anniversary Undertale! I started writing this during the summer, and unfortunately I was away yesterday (and it wasn't done lmao), so I couldn't post it on the day. I just wanna say that this game has really made an impact on my life, the characters are absolutely amazing, (almost) all the fanwork is stellar, and the soundtrack is so. good. I wondered a lot about Chara and Frisk before they fell into the Underground, and was planning to write two, but so far it's just Chara's story. So, I consider this my little tribute to Undertale after a whole year of it being out. Hope you enjoy it, leave comments and kudos, and stay determined....!
> 
> Edit: I took out a lot on the Chinese/Tibetan words and some unnecessary details because I felt they were unnecessary. But I still tried to do a lot of research beforehand - tell me in the comments if something is really off, and I'll do my best to fix it.

Chara was born in a small village below the mountains. Where green grass grew and golden flowers bloomed, where the earth met the sky below the yellow sun, this was the place that they called home. The village was called Huāyuán (for the garden), was bordered by miles of land and valley in the Chinese countryside and a series of small mountains, leftover from erosion of the great Tibetan range. Its people were quaint, and quite quiet, mainly old maids and their young children who’s families were once immigrants and adventurers, settling down to tell their tales into local legend. It was the smallest of places, and nearly every name was known whether spoken accompanied by great laughter or in hushed whispers with shifty glances. Every event was celebrated with great joy, and every sorrow was mourned by the hearts of all. It was a wonderful home for many, who were very happy to be living their life in the peace and quiet of a garden.  
  
Chara lived with their mother at the base of a valley in a small wooden house. Their mother’s name was Choden, and whilst in her youth she may have been called beautiful, her fate had weakened her and aged her skin. Their father had once loved Choden very dearly, and had even ran from his parents in a nearby city to be with her once their first child was born. He knew that Choden wished to live somewhere bigger than this small village, and planned his life around moving to a better place some day. But love like that rarely lasts, and within their son’s first eleven years of life, things began to fall apart, and he fell out of love with Choden. Eventually, she was left alone with her child, alone at the foot of a mountain. Such tragic beginnings promised a strange life for Chara, who's first years of life were spent in silence while her mother grieved.  
  
The house itself was nothing much, more a shack than a proper building, with a small well just in the yard, a kitchen with an icebox, and two bedrooms. In stormy weather, lightning would strike a small poker roped to the roof while drops of water leaked into Chara’s bedroom. When they were little, they would make paper boats and play in the stream the storm had made. In the summertime, flowers of all colours would bloom in the valley and in the village, from buttercups to forget-me-nots. Chara would sometimes pick them for a bouquet they would keep on their beside table, but later learned it was best to leave them be to grow and prosper on their own. In seasons of cold, Chara took their mother’s heavy coat outside and into the valley, sometimes playing in the snow on the mountains, all the while Choden burning firewood and old paper in the chimney to make sure that neither her nor her child froze in the night.  
  
By now, it is obvious that Choden was not very wealthy, but when she could afford to spend money, she would more than often spend it on her child, whether it be new school clothing, a book for Chara’s love of literature, or numerous birthday gifts that Chara cherished in their youth. On their fifth birthday, Choden gave Chara a beautiful golden locket, bought with money for a months worth of grain and yeast, given to them in a green box, along with a promise. “As long as this hangs from your neck, no harm will find you, my child. It is my promise to you. May it never, ever break.”  
  
Chara wore the locket on their first day of school along with their one clean dress. They travelled into the village, and people watched them go by, waving hello and greeting them along with the others on their way to the school. As Chara arrived in the schoolyard, they saw a beautiful bed of flowers just in the distance, with all different coloured flowers that reminded them of springtime. Chara was happy as they began to talk to a group of children, showing off their locket and asking the other children’s names. They had never really had any friends before, and thought that being able to spend time with someone around their age would be such great fun.  
  
One of the children turned to face Chara, and instead of greeting them, asked why they were so tall. Chara did not know the answer. They had never noticed that their height was a problem. Another made a comment about their hair that Choden had cut with garden spears the day before, and that it looked like they had cut it themselves. Upset by this, Chara ran into the building, and for the rest of the day every time a schoolchild saw them, they found something new to tease them about, whether it was the strange red glint of their eyes, or the fact that their shoes had so many holes in them they were basically falling apart.  
  
This was how things continued for Chara for the rest of the year, and even into the next few. As the schoolchildren got older, they learned new things about Chara, and their teasing became more and more disturbing. A child made a joke about how Chara’s family most probably couldn’t afford to buy a needle to sew their shoes back up when Chara came to school one day barefooted, and another spread the rumour that Chara was really a mountain creature that had come to torment them all. Crueler rumours spread into the town by the time they were seven, and soon enough Chara started to come home with bruises on their skin.   
Choden promised her child that things would not continue this way, that everything would sort itself out in time. But it couldn’t have been less true. When they were nine, Chara came to school with bandages on their arm, and a child ripped it off to find faint lines scattered on the skin. For that week, they all asked Chara why they hadn’t made more, and if they needed their help with bleeding, they’d all be grateful to help.  
  
Chara tried to convince themselves to stay strong, telling themselves that one day they would be able to find some other children who were nothing like this. But, as time went on, they could not find the goodness in humanity. The children of the village laughed and whispered as Chara walked into the village for school every morning. The men and their wives stared and turned away, sometimes shaking their heads and muttering underneath their breath. Even Choden, their own mother, became distant. She cared for them, but in Chara’s heart, they knew that she truly did not love them. A small price to pay for a child that had ruined her life and sent her husband away, caring was. Chara watched as their mother began to cry and sob during the night, sometimes not even coming home at all and leaving them in the silence.  
  
By the time they did, it had been years since Chara wore their locket to school. But they needed something to remind them that, besides anything, someone might still care for them, especially feeling as terrible as they did then. So, on a spring day of their tenth year of life, they wore it, along with their one clean dress. People stared as they went into the village, whispering to each other as Chara trudged on by, their face pale and almost lifeless, with the only hint of colour from their dress and locket. They did not look back. They did not want to. They wanted to have hope.  
  
The others ripped it from their body. Tore their dress and threw the gold on the ground as if it were worthless, and made from garbage. Left them in tears and despair, laughing at their destroyed state, as Chara felt ruined. Chara dragged themselves home, crying to their mother. They thought she would comfort her, that she would understand. For all that Chara knew now, her promise had been broken, and meant nothing. Their hope was gone, and this was all they could cling to. They wanted it to be mended.  
  
Choden stood in the minuscule kitchen when Chara returned from school. She brushed their hair back, and looked at the bruise forming around their eye. She ran her finger on her child’s split lip. She examined the tears in the beautiful green dress as Chara handed her the bent and beat locket. She took a deep breath.  
  
And she sighed. “Look at what trouble you’ve gotten into.” she snapped, fixing the clasp on the locket. “You never seem to stay out of it these days.” She cuffed it back onto Chara’s neck, the gold stinging their skin like a pot of scalding water to the face. “There. Be good now, will you not?”  
  
Chara ran. They ran out of the house and away from their mother, crying as they crossed the valley, out of the village, and into the mountains. They ran through the trees, tripping on rocks and branches, each scratching their knees until blood coated their shins. They ran for so long, breath hitching and body weak, trying so hard to escape but everywhere they looked the world still was, the world was still there, and every second that it was Chara felt pain, and anger, and fear. There was nothing good in this world, they knew. Humanity were demons, disgusting creatures who only knew how to hurt and destroy. There was no love in any of their hearts. They hated Chara. And Chara hated them.  
  
They found the cave hours after they had left. Clouds had begun to gather, and Chara was cold, their injuries beginning to sting. As they travelled further and further inside, they began to feel something rising in their heart, the likes of something they’d never felt before. As determination began to grow and swell inside them, they became angry. With a cry, they yanked the golden locket from their neck, tossing it onto the ground below. And then they picked it back up, and threw it far away from them. But, it did not hit the ground. This confused Chara. There was no echo in this part of the mountain they’d wandered into. As the anger quickly began to fade, they realized they were lost, and cold, and it was too dark to see anything near the walls.  
  
Afraid, Chara began to run again, this time in the direction they threw the locket, feet nearly failing to carry them any further. They couldn’t hear their own feet hitting the ground, and all of their emotions were bubbling up into their twisted determination. As their heartbeat raced, they felt their foot catch on a branch, and they fell.  
  
And they fell.  
  
And they fell.  
  
And they fell.  
  


And then there was light. For the first time Chara could remember in forever, there was brightness, and happiness, and hope all around them. The flowers they landed on were beautiful and plush, and Chara’s wounds did not stain them with any sort of red. They cried out for help, and for the first time, help came.  
  
“It sounds like it came from over here….oh! You’ve fallen down, haven’t you….are you okay? Here, get up….”  
  
His name was Asriel, and he was unlike anything Chara had ever seen before. At first, they thought he was a terrible demon, but as he began to talk, they soon realized that he was quite the opposite. He took them into the Kingdom, and to the King and Queen, who, like Chara, were terrified of them at first, but as Asriel explained that he had found them 'fallen down’, they began to understand. Queen Toriel gave them bandages for their legs and their snapped wrist, and King Asgore made a tea that Chara had never tasted before, and while it burned their tongue they drank the whole cup, as Toriel asked how on earth they had found themselves down here, in the world of Monsters.  
  
They slept in the monster’s house, and Asriel continued to pester them with questions, asking why they had fallen down, and what they would do now that they had little chance of ever returning home. The truth was, Chara didn’t know why they had fallen. They were angry at the whole world, their determination driving them, and suddenly they had tripped and it felt like falling asleep, or dying, whichever Chara knew best. But they knew they had no desire to go back. They knew that there was nothing for them left in Huāyuán, and that if they returned, only misery would befall them. Though they were confused and afraid of the monster world, it seemed much better than the place of dread above they had wanted so badly to escape from.  
  
And it was for many days, which became weeks, which lengthened into months and before Chara knew it, they had found a new home. Every monster they encountered was peaceful, and would strike up friendly conversations with them shortly after they ran into each other. Asgore was proud to show many monsters Chara, whom he called family after a full year. The monsters had been trapped beneath the ground this whole time, and only now did they have hope of returning to the surface sunlight, of reuniting with humans once more. Chara called Asriel a brother, and as they got older they became adventurous and wonderful, the crown prince and his human sibling. The Underground was fascinating to Chara, and as they got older they explored further and further out into the caves, Asriel accompanying them sometimes fearfully, but always in amazement. As the years flew on by, Chara found that they did not miss the surface at all. They were much happier down here, with a new family that loved them, in a new world they were continuously fascinated by.  
  
It surprised Chara that the monsters wanted to leave so badly, especially since they were so kind, and humanity was so cruel. Every time Asriel mentioned how wonderful it would be to meet the humans on the surface, Chara snapped at him, and told him that humans were nothing but demons who had only hurt them their whole life. Despite this, Asriel and the rest of the Underground still wished to break the barrier and see the sun, but for all they knew, it could never be done. It would take a being with immense power, the power of human souls, to leave this place forever, and they had no such way for that to happen. That was, at least, when Chara was not part of the Underground. Now, there was no way to know for sure if it could be done, but there was hope. Chara knew how all the monsters looked up to them as an angel that would set them all free. But they simply did not know why. Chara didn’t really understand, but Asriel did. It would take the power of seven human souls to shatter the barrier, but if a human soul and a monster soul were combined, they alone could leave. And then, everyone else could leave, too.  
  
As the fourteen year-old Chara told their plan to Asriel, they began to hope. They hoped that once monsters returned to the surface, humanity would see their kindness and realize the error of their ways. They hoped that this would bring about a new beginning for all monsters who had been so very, very kind to Chara for the four years they had lived amongst them. And they hoped that the Dreemurrs would thank them, such as Chara thanked them for being so nice to them by doing this. The golden flowers that Chara had fallen on were so beautiful, yet deadly to anyone that consumed them. Once Asriel got over himself and agreed to the plan, he and Chara picked a few from the flowerbed. They told him that after they fell asleep, they wanted to see the flowers of the valley, once they’d reached the surface. “Thank you.” Chara whispered to the world around them, plucking petals and putting them into their mouth. “I never thought I would ever be able to do something as wonderful as this.”  
  
They fell ill the next day, Asgore and Toriel huddled by their bedside, pleading for their child to wake up. “Chara? Can you hear me? We want you to wake up…..” Toriel whispered to Chara, their eyes closed, their breathing soft. “Chara! You have to stay determined!” Asgore said, kneeling at their bedside, bouquet of golden flowers in hand. “You can’t give up…. You are the future of humans and monsters…”  
  
But Chara did not hear them, nor did they hear Asriel asking for them to wake up, saying that he didn’t like the plan, and that he wanted Chara to be here with him. The King and Queen waited all night with Chara, but it was too late. Their breathing slowed and stopped the next morning, their body going as cold as ice and snow. The next time Chara opened their eyes, they were with Asriel, sharing a form like they had planned to. Chara saw their body lying in their bed, and picked it up, leaving the Kingdom and towards the barrier. As they stepped through, a gust of wind hit them. The sun was beginning to fall beneath the horizon, the warm air filling their lungs as the two children breathed as one, moving down the mountain and towards the village, where the flowers laid.  
  
By the time they reached the village, the sky was a beautiful deep orange. Everyone they passed in Huāyuán stopped to look at the creature that was making its way through to the flowerbed, where every flower from buttercups to forget-me-nots were blooming. Chara placed their own body on top of the flowers, their green and yellow sweater blending in perfectly with the spring colours of the garden. And they began to place petals on the body’s skin, both Chara and Asriel did, until their pale skin was full of colour, and it looked as if they were only sleeping, their brown eyes open, looking up at the evening sky.  
  
A scream rang out from the crowd that had gathered behind them. “You monster!” a woman shouted, taking a pitchfork from the side of her house. More soon joined her, and before they could run, the humans were attacking. Chara and Asriel felt blow after blow slicing and stabbing into them, crying out in pain. A feeling began to fill Chara’s soul, this determination that they had not felt for a long time ready to burst. They knew they could use their full power to destroy each and every human in this disgusting place. They could feel Asriel hurting, feel him dying at the hands of these creatures, and here was the perfect time to strike back. But before Chara could begin to release their power, something within them fought against them. “No,” they felt Asriel saying. “don’t hurt them. Chara, please, this….it’s enough.”  
  
Chara wanted to scream and lash out, to tell Asriel that they feared all this would happen, that they should have listened, but their determination was not enough. Without even lifting a finger to the humans, Asriel picked up the lifeless body of Chara, and left the village. They climbed the mountain in pain, weak and destroyed, the darkness beginning to grow from behind the horizon where the sun had fallen, and returned to the garden where Chara had first fallen into, nearly four years ago.  
  
With his final power, Asriel expelled Chara’s soul from the body, and once he was himself again, he turned into dust. It scattered across the flowers, silent and empty, the place where he had stood now in complete darkness. The last thing Chara could feel was hope fading, their determination fading, and hearing the frantic calls of Asgore and Toriel as they searched for their children, who now existed only in darkness, in nothingness, and in memory.

  


Chara slept for years beneath the soil. Time passed on while Chara’s eyes were closed, their throat dry, their body still as water. They felt nothing, only emptiness, as if there was supposed to be something there that instead was missing. Roots grew below them and dust settled above them as Chara slept, not woken by the changing world. They felt no hope, no determination, no life or meaning in the world for many, many years below the soil.  
  
Until, one day, strangely, they woke up.  
  
The human’s name was Frisk, and they were the opposite of Chara looks-wise. Where Chara was fair Frisk was dark, where Chara was lanky Frisk had fat. They seemed to tower over Frisk by many inches, and Frisk carried a small stick in their hand as they brushed the dirt off of their sweater and got up off the flowerbed. Chara watched as a flower spoke to Frisk, only to see it trick this strange new human and nearly destroy its soul before a familiar face came to save them.  
  
“What a terrible creature, torturing such a poor innocent youth. Ah, do not be afraid, my child. I am Toriel, caretaker of the Ruins. I come here every day to see if anyone has fallen down.”  
  
Chara followed Frisk like a ghost as Toriel took them through the ruins of the kingdom Chara had once lived in. They tried to get her attention, but it was as if they weren’t even there. The only person they could speak to, it seemed, was Frisk, and even they barely acknowledged Chara’s presence. Frisk could not see very well, and when they put their hands on something, Chara had to explain what it was. All Frisk thanked them with was a head nod, and continuing on their way through the Ruins. As they travelled further into the Ruins, Chara became more and more confused. Why had they been brought back? The plan had failed, hadn’t it? All Frisk seemed able to do was act friendly towards monsters. Chara didn’t trust them. No human Chara had ever met ever had good intentions, especially towards monsters.  
  
Chara tried to tell Frisk what to do, but Frisk had other plans, it seemed. Even when Toriel gave them a perfectly nice home and offered to be their teacher, Frisk wished to leave the Ruins. Chara watched as Toriel failed to block them from leaving, and instead made them promise to not return, that is, unless Asgore killed them first. Chara begged to stay behind, to be with Toriel again, ask her what was going on, why was Asgore no longer here, what had happened in the time they had been gone, but Frisk took them on, out into the snowy forest beyond the Ruins, gaining determination after seeing the strange flower once more.  
  
As Frisk continued traveling, Chara realized that they had the same thing that they did: determination, although it acted differently for Frisk. All Chara’s determination had done was make them feel angry and powerful, but Frisk’s gave them confidence and kindness. Chara began to think differently of Frisk as they watched them interact with two brothers in Snowdin, solving puzzles and avoiding fights by simply acting nice. All Frisk could seem to do was make friends with everyone they encountered, including the strange skeleton who’s gaze seemed to linger a little too long in the place Chara was invisibly floating. The woman from Waterfall seemed set out to kill them, but Frisk wasn’t afraid of her. Chara even began to cheer Frisk on once they battled the royal guard, fleeing into the Hotlands, a place Chara had never seen whilst they were alive.  
  
Frisk’s adventure went on, far into the Underground, every monster they’d encountered encouraging them as they did so. Every time they were struck down, they were determined to get back up and continue on, whether they were fighting a small Froggit or a monster-built killer robot. By the time they reached Asgore, Chara considered themselves a friend to Frisk. They had not gained strength nor experience, rather, they had gained understanding. While they were alive, Chara believed no human could ever be kind. Frisk proved them wrong when they spared Asgore, when they spared Flowey, when they took the time to understand the scientist and forgive her for her mistakes, and when all of their friends came to support them at the very end. Here was a human that had done nothing but give mercy, that had not harmed but helped, and now they would give all monsters their long-awaited freedom.  
  
But, just as things were looking to be perfect, something happened. The flower returned, and took control of every soul in the Underground except for Frisk and Chara. And then, standing before them, was Asriel. “Chara?” he asked. “Are you there? It’s me, your best friend….”  
  
But he wasn’t talking to Chara. With his power, he began to fight Frisk, who could only show him mercy while Chara screamed and cried to get his attention. They tried so hard to show him that they were there, that they weren’t gone like he thought they were, but Asriel, like everyone else, could not see them. Instead, he tried again and again to kill Frisk and reset the whole world, while Frisk caught and saved each and every soul of their friends. They reached out to save Asriel, and with a burst of power, he tried to destroy Frisk’s soul, but it refused to die.  
  
Before long, Asriel was defeated. His power gone, he had to release all of the souls, shattering the barrier into pieces as he did. Frisk hugged him as he cried, Asriel saying that he had done terrible things and didn’t deserve their mercy. Chara reached out to do the same as he left. “Can you hear me?” they asked their best friend, their brother. “Can you see me?”  
  
Asriel stared for a second. “Chara?” His voice was soft, just as youthful as Chara remembered it to be. He was looking right into their eyes.  
  
Chara threw themselves onto him, hugging him tightly. Their soul was weak, and no one else could sense them, not one monster this whole time. No one, except for Asriel now. They had been so determined, so mad when they last saw him, they hadn’t even had a chance to say goodbye before he became dust on the floor of the Ruins. And, while they couldn’t have felt it, they missed him while they were sleeping in the ground, worthless and alone. Here he was, now. Chara knew he had to leave, that he couldn’t stay like this for much longer, and his pure soul would no longer exist once he was a flower again. “It’s me.” they said, hugging him and crying as he began to disappear. “It’s me. I’m here. Thank you. Thank you, Asriel. We did it.”

  


The sun was rising on the horizon above Huāyuán. Monsters stood, staring at it for the first time in centuries, in awe and wonder of what would come next. Chara stood next to Frisk as the strange skeleton explained to his brother that the great fire in the sky was called the sun, and as Toriel smiled in so much happiness she looked as if she might cry. The royal guard held the scientist’s hand as they were nearly blinded by the sunlight, and Asgore nodded at the beautiful pink and orange sky.  
  
The world had changed since Chara had been alive on the surface. Lives had come and gone. Monsters had changed and grown, and perhaps humans had too. Chara knew that things would never be the same for them. They knew they would never see Asriel again, and most likely never be able to talk to Toriel and Asgore again. But, as they saw Frisk staring out into the sunrise, as they felt a new kind of determination filling up their heart, they knew this was a new beginning for everyone. They could feel hope, and they were happy. They wanted to be for the rest of their life.  
  
Toriel took Frisk’s hand. “Come, now. Everyone is waiting for us.”


End file.
